Hindu Temples - What Happened to Them
Encyclopedia
Hindu Temples – What Happened to Them is a two-volume book by Sita Ram Goel
, Arun Shourie
, Harsh Narain
, Jay Dubashi and Ram Swarup
. The first volume was published in spring 1990.
The first volume includes a list of 2000 mosques that it is claimed were built on Hindu temples, which it is asserted is based primarily on the books of Muslim historians of the period or the inscriptions of the mosques. The second volume excerpts from medieval histories and chronicles and from inscriptions concerning the destruction of Hindu
, Jain and Buddhist temple
s. The authors claim that the material presented in this book are only the tip of an iceberg.
The book contains chapters about the Ayodhya debate
. The Appendix of the first volume contains a list of temple-destructions and atrocities that the authors claim took place in Bangladesh
in 1989. The book also criticizes "Marxist historians" and one of the appendices of the second volume includes a "questionnaire for the Marxist professors" that the authors sent to well-known Indian historian Romila Thapar
.
In August 1990 while releasing the book "Hindu Temples – What Happened To Them", Bharatiya Janta Party leader L. K. Advani chided Goel for using strong language. There were proposals in November 1990 in Uttar Pradesh
to ban the book.
's book Negationism in India – Concealing the Record of Islam contains a lengthy review of the book. Koenraad Elst claimed that "None of the negationist historians has come forward with a reply or with the announcement that a mistake has been discovered in Mr. Goel's list of monuments of Islamic fanaticism. Manini Chatterjee, reviewer for The Telegraph
, could do no more than calling it a "very bad book". And Elst further claimed: "Of the hundreds of secularist historians who have signed statements denouncing "communal history distortion", not a single one has been able to challenge even one of the 2000 claims in the list."
Cynthia Talbot in 1995 claimed that Goel's list of destroyed temples is "greatly inflated", but also called for a systematic and unbiased study of the subject, without which it is very difficult to gauge the extent of damage wrought on Indian temples. Cynthia Talbot noted that in the decades after 1565 temple desecration were on the rise in Andhra Pradesh
, which is in accord with the dates in Goel's list of temple destructions (in Goel's chapter "Let the Mute Witness speak"). Reflecting on Goel's list, she says: "Five date from the fourteenth century (phase one), six come from phase two, and nineteen date from 1565 to 1650 CE (phase three). The remaining thirty or so cases stem from the century after 1650, with a notable bunching of incidents in the late 1600s, when the Mughal empire was absorbing the former Qutb Shahi
kingdom of Golconda
."
Manini Chatterjee, in a review in the Calcutta Telegraph, called Goel's book a “very bad book”. Richard Eaton also criticized the book. Eaton discussed one of the cases in Goel's list of destroyed temples: “an inscription dated 1455, found over the doorway of a tomb-shrine in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh” which mentions “the destruction of a Hindu temple by one Abdullah Shah Changal during the reign of Raja Bhoja, a renowned Paramara king who had ruled over the region from 1010 to 1053” Eaton says that the inscription is “hardly contemporary” and “presents a richly textured legend elaborated over many generations of oral transmission until 1455”. He acknowledges that “Goel does, however, consider it more likely that the event took place during the reign of Raja Bhoja II in the late thirteenth century rather than during that of Raja Bhoja I in the eleventh century.” Richard Eaton thinks that “we cannot know with certainty” if the temple destruction did take place, which substantiates Elst's charge of negationism against certain scholars. Eaton also claimed that Goel has used “selective translations of premodem Persian chronicles, together with a selective use of epigraphic data”. According to Vimal Yogi Tiwari, such a historical assessment as in Goel's book "Hindu Temples" has by and large been missing in India.
Goel's book also includes an exchange of comments between Romila Thapar and Goel. Romila Thapar has criticized Goel, claiming that he does not understand how to use historical sources, without actually refuting any of the facts presented by Goel.
Sita Ram Goel
Sita Ram Goel , writer and publisher in late twentieth century. He had Marxist leanings during the 1940s, but later became an outspoken anti-communist that also spoke negatively about Islam and Christianity...
, Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie is an Indian journalist, author, intellectual and politician. He has been an economist with the World Bank , a consultant to the Planning Commission, India, editor of the Indian Express and Times of India and a minister in the government of India . He was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay...
, Harsh Narain
Harsh Narain
Harsh Narain is an Indian author. He has a Ph.D. from Lucknow University, and was a professor at Benares Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University and North Eastern Hill University....
, Jay Dubashi and Ram Swarup
Ram Swarup
Ram Swarup , , born Ram Swarup Agarwal, was an independent Hindu thinker and prolific author. His works took a critical stance against Christianity, Islam and Communism. His work has influenced other Indian writers.- Life :He graduated in Economics at Delhi University in 1941...
. The first volume was published in spring 1990.
The first volume includes a list of 2000 mosques that it is claimed were built on Hindu temples, which it is asserted is based primarily on the books of Muslim historians of the period or the inscriptions of the mosques. The second volume excerpts from medieval histories and chronicles and from inscriptions concerning the destruction of Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, Jain and Buddhist temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s. The authors claim that the material presented in this book are only the tip of an iceberg.
The book contains chapters about the Ayodhya debate
Ayodhya debate
The Ayodhya dispute is a political, historical and socio-religious debate in India, centred on a plot of land in the city of Ayodhya, located in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh...
. The Appendix of the first volume contains a list of temple-destructions and atrocities that the authors claim took place in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
in 1989. The book also criticizes "Marxist historians" and one of the appendices of the second volume includes a "questionnaire for the Marxist professors" that the authors sent to well-known Indian historian Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient India.-Work:After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 1958...
.
In August 1990 while releasing the book "Hindu Temples – What Happened To Them", Bharatiya Janta Party leader L. K. Advani chided Goel for using strong language. There were proposals in November 1990 in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
to ban the book.
Reviews
Koenraad ElstKoenraad Elst
Koenraad Elst is a Belgian writer and orientalist .He was an editor of the New Right Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992 to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservative and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, t Pallieterke,...
's book Negationism in India – Concealing the Record of Islam contains a lengthy review of the book. Koenraad Elst claimed that "None of the negationist historians has come forward with a reply or with the announcement that a mistake has been discovered in Mr. Goel's list of monuments of Islamic fanaticism. Manini Chatterjee, reviewer for The Telegraph
The Telegraph (Kolkata)
The Telegraph is an Indian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper vies with the Times of India for the position of having the widest widest circulation of any newspaper in Eastern India.According to the Audit...
, could do no more than calling it a "very bad book". And Elst further claimed: "Of the hundreds of secularist historians who have signed statements denouncing "communal history distortion", not a single one has been able to challenge even one of the 2000 claims in the list."
Cynthia Talbot in 1995 claimed that Goel's list of destroyed temples is "greatly inflated", but also called for a systematic and unbiased study of the subject, without which it is very difficult to gauge the extent of damage wrought on Indian temples. Cynthia Talbot noted that in the decades after 1565 temple desecration were on the rise in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, which is in accord with the dates in Goel's list of temple destructions (in Goel's chapter "Let the Mute Witness speak"). Reflecting on Goel's list, she says: "Five date from the fourteenth century (phase one), six come from phase two, and nineteen date from 1565 to 1650 CE (phase three). The remaining thirty or so cases stem from the century after 1650, with a notable bunching of incidents in the late 1600s, when the Mughal empire was absorbing the former Qutb Shahi
Qutb Shahi dynasty
The Qutb Shahi dynasty was a Turko-Persian dynasty ; its members were collectively called the Qutub Shahis. They were the ruling family of the kingdom of Golkonda in modern-day Andra Pradesh, India. They were Shia Muslims and belonged to Kara Koyunlu...
kingdom of Golconda
Golkonda
Golkonda or Golla konda a ruined city of south-central India and capital of ancient Kingdom of Golkonda , is situated 11 km west of Hyderabad.The most important builder of Golkonda was a Hindu Kakatiya King...
."
Manini Chatterjee, in a review in the Calcutta Telegraph, called Goel's book a “very bad book”. Richard Eaton also criticized the book. Eaton discussed one of the cases in Goel's list of destroyed temples: “an inscription dated 1455, found over the doorway of a tomb-shrine in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh” which mentions “the destruction of a Hindu temple by one Abdullah Shah Changal during the reign of Raja Bhoja, a renowned Paramara king who had ruled over the region from 1010 to 1053” Eaton says that the inscription is “hardly contemporary” and “presents a richly textured legend elaborated over many generations of oral transmission until 1455”. He acknowledges that “Goel does, however, consider it more likely that the event took place during the reign of Raja Bhoja II in the late thirteenth century rather than during that of Raja Bhoja I in the eleventh century.” Richard Eaton thinks that “we cannot know with certainty” if the temple destruction did take place, which substantiates Elst's charge of negationism against certain scholars. Eaton also claimed that Goel has used “selective translations of premodem Persian chronicles, together with a selective use of epigraphic data”. According to Vimal Yogi Tiwari, such a historical assessment as in Goel's book "Hindu Temples" has by and large been missing in India.
Goel's book also includes an exchange of comments between Romila Thapar and Goel. Romila Thapar has criticized Goel, claiming that he does not understand how to use historical sources, without actually refuting any of the facts presented by Goel.
See also
- Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinentMuslim conquest in the Indian subcontinentMuslim conquest in South Asia mainly took place from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into the region, beginning during the period of the ascendancy of the Rajput Kingdoms in North India, from the 7th century onwards.However, the Himalayan...
- Negationism in India – Concealing the Record of Islam (Book)
- Persecution of HindusPersecution of HindusPersecution of Hindus refers to the religious persecution inflicted upon Hindus. Hindus have been historically persecuted during Islamic rule of the Indian subcontinent and during the Goa Inquisition...
- Anti-HinduAnti-HinduAnti-Hindu prejudice is a negative perception or religious intolerance against the practice and practitioners of Hinduism. Anti-Hindu sentiments have been expressed by Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh, leading to significant persecution of Hindus in those regions, such as the 1971 Bangladesh...
- Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947 is a book by Sikh author Gurbachan Singh Talib. It was first published in 1950 by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and has been reprinted several times....
- Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosquesConversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosquesConversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques began during the life of Muhammad and continued during subsequent Islamic conquests and under the Muslim rule...
- The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Book)